- Joined
- Apr 6, 2013
- Messages
- 34,377
- Reaction score
- 69,040
Drug cartel bribed campaign associate of Mexican president: court docs
January 16, 2019
"The Sinaloa Cartel bribed a onetime campaign associate of current Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his first failed bid for the seat in 2006, explosive new court documents allege.
“The bribe in question had been paid to an individual associated with the failed presidential campaign, over a decade ago, of the current president of Mexico,” federal prosecutors wrote in a motion filed Tuesday and unsealed Wednesday evening...
The startling accusation, which has not been made during Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s drug trafficking trial in Brooklyn, came out in government papers asking judge Brian Cogan to bar defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman from mentioning political bribery during his closing arguments.
The request comes after Lichtman Tuesday elicited bombshell testimony from government cooperator Alex Cifuntes that Guzman allegedly paid former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto a $100 million bribe in 2012....
The explosive accusations are buried in a document blaming Lichtman for causing diplomatic strife with Mexico.
“The only plausible reason for defense counsel to elicit evidence of bribery of presidents and vice presidents of foreign countries is to create a public sideshow in an attempt to damage United States foreign relations and publicly damage the Mexican president who extradited [his client], in retaliation for his current prosecution,” the government writes in a newly unsealed motion.
Earlier Wednesday in court — though out of the earshot of jurors — Lichtman accused the prosecutors of being “desperate to protect the Mexican government.”
Lichtman laughed and declined comment when asked if he was single-handedly destroying relations with Mexico."
https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/drug-cartel-bribed-campaign-associate-of-mexican-president-court-docs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US agent: Mexican police excluded from 2014 El Chapo manhunt
Jan 16, 2019
"NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. agent testified Wednesday that Mexican police were purposely kept in the dark about secret efforts in 2014 to hunt down notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman because they couldn't be trusted.
Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Victor Vasquez told a jury in Guzman's trial that he was the American liason for an operation to try to capture the top leadership of the Sinaloa cartel. He demanded only Mexican marines on his team because he believed, unlike the police, they wouldn't tip off the cartel.
Involving police "was not going to work" because of the "corruption level," Vasquez testified in federal court in Brooklyn.
Deep-rooted corruption and ineffectiveness among police forces has led Mexico to rely heavily for years on the military — and particularly the marines — to combat drug cartels in parts of the country...."
Correction: El Chapo-Prosecution story
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 16, 2019
"The Sinaloa Cartel bribed a onetime campaign associate of current Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his first failed bid for the seat in 2006, explosive new court documents allege.
“The bribe in question had been paid to an individual associated with the failed presidential campaign, over a decade ago, of the current president of Mexico,” federal prosecutors wrote in a motion filed Tuesday and unsealed Wednesday evening...
The startling accusation, which has not been made during Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s drug trafficking trial in Brooklyn, came out in government papers asking judge Brian Cogan to bar defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman from mentioning political bribery during his closing arguments.
The request comes after Lichtman Tuesday elicited bombshell testimony from government cooperator Alex Cifuntes that Guzman allegedly paid former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto a $100 million bribe in 2012....
The explosive accusations are buried in a document blaming Lichtman for causing diplomatic strife with Mexico.
“The only plausible reason for defense counsel to elicit evidence of bribery of presidents and vice presidents of foreign countries is to create a public sideshow in an attempt to damage United States foreign relations and publicly damage the Mexican president who extradited [his client], in retaliation for his current prosecution,” the government writes in a newly unsealed motion.
Earlier Wednesday in court — though out of the earshot of jurors — Lichtman accused the prosecutors of being “desperate to protect the Mexican government.”
Lichtman laughed and declined comment when asked if he was single-handedly destroying relations with Mexico."
https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/drug-cartel-bribed-campaign-associate-of-mexican-president-court-docs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US agent: Mexican police excluded from 2014 El Chapo manhunt
Jan 16, 2019
"NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. agent testified Wednesday that Mexican police were purposely kept in the dark about secret efforts in 2014 to hunt down notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman because they couldn't be trusted.
Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Victor Vasquez told a jury in Guzman's trial that he was the American liason for an operation to try to capture the top leadership of the Sinaloa cartel. He demanded only Mexican marines on his team because he believed, unlike the police, they wouldn't tip off the cartel.
Involving police "was not going to work" because of the "corruption level," Vasquez testified in federal court in Brooklyn.
Deep-rooted corruption and ineffectiveness among police forces has led Mexico to rely heavily for years on the military — and particularly the marines — to combat drug cartels in parts of the country...."
Correction: El Chapo-Prosecution story
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauren Bobek @laurenbobek
Brian Lehrer ShowVerified account @BrianLehrer
Marisa Céspedes @SeishinNY
